EU consensus on jobs emerging

A CONSENSUS appears to be among member states that the EU Treaty should include a chapter on employment and a commitment to "the highest sustainable level of employment".

A formulation along these lines seen as the best hope of brokering a deal between those, like Britain and Germany, which say a treaty commitment to employment will only raise unrealisable expectations, and those led by Sweden which would wish to see a commitment to "full employment".

Meeting over the last two days, ministerial representatives at the treaty changing IGC also worked on proposals to incorporate into the treaty the idea of an EU coordinating role on jobs spelled out in the conclusions of the Essen summit.

Such a role would incorporate annual EU collective surveillance of national jobs programmes and she creation of a new top level employment committee of ministers.

Yesterday the group also discussed Irish presidency proposals to bring the issues of legislating on asylum, the control of the EU's external frontiers and immigration policy into the same decision making framework as single market issues. This would give the Commission, for the first time, the right to initiate proposals in areas that have been intergovernmental.